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The Knight Foundation awarded, among many others, an idea for a network of new “consulates” initially located in Detroit, Philadelphia and New Orleans that will offer an entrée into local culture. (Claire Nelson)

The Detroit Design Festival is underway, featuring 30 design events and 500 designers through Sunday, September 28. Panel discussions, art installations and flash-mob style gatherings are all on the docket for the six-day festival, which is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Read More

In a few short years, the term placemaking has migrated from wonky urban planning circles to neighborhoods across the country—that communities come together around public space is no groundbreaking observation, but when successful the idea can be revolutionary on a local scale.

Circuses have been a historic gathering place in cities and towns across America. Crowds of people are attracted to the towering tent, local music, and fragrant carnival food. A group of five architects tap into this pop appeal with their project, Circus for Construction, which won a competition in May,2014 held by Storefront for Art & Architecture. Their plan retrofits a semi-truck to transform into a pop-up venue and experimental gallery space for architecture and art.

Make Architects’ kiosks fold open and shut. (Courtesy Make Architects)

Inspired by Japanese paper-folding, Canary Wharf booths make a sculptural statement whether open or shut.

Make Architects’ folding kiosks for Canary Wharf in London bring new meaning to the term “pop-up shop.” The bellows-like structures were inspired by Japanese paper folding. “[The kiosk] had to be solid, but lightweight, so then that led us to origami,” said Make lead project architect Sean Affleck. “[You] end up with something very flimsy; add a few folds and creases, and suddenly the strength appears. In the folds, the shape appears.”

Designer Naoya Matsumoto and her peers at Seian University of Art and Design have created a unique meeting space for students on the Japanese campus. Their creation, a pop-up bar, is created from six panels of locally-sourced reeds called Yoshi. The chaotic construction resembles a traditional gabled roof structure in abstract form. Each year, students of the design school are challenged to create objects from the Yoshi reeds which grow freely around Lake Biwa, an area close to the university campus.

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea (ROK) has donated two parcels of land in Arlington County, Virginia’s Courthouse area, and now the county is reaching out to the community for help in designing its first temporary pop-up park. The Departments of Parks and Recreation and Community Planning, Housing and Development have devised a survey to determine how the public would like to use the new open space on Clarendon Boulevard. Features already planned for the park include ADA accessible paths, an assortment of moveable seating, a modest grass area, and a landscaped barrier between the alleyway and open space.

There’s a new couture addition to PROXY, the temporary shipping container village in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley, designed by architects Envelope A+D. Adding to PROXY’s cool coffee shop, ice cream parlor, and Biergarten is a new store for clothing company Aether, made up of three forty foot shipping containers stacked atop one another, supported by steel columns. The guts of the first two containers have been carved out, making a double story retail space, with a glass mezzanine above jutting to the side, providing display space and views. A third container for inventory storage is accessible via a custom-designed drycleaners’ conveyor belt spanning all three floors. Workers can literally load garments from the ground floor and send them up to the top.

Boxman Studios, the company that pioneered the shipping-containers-turned-housing trend back in 2008, is now embarking on a whole new shipping container revolution. As part of their sustainable building efforts they are adapting decommissioned containers to enhance already complete buildings and even stand alone as pop-up shops, venues, restaurants, transit stations and more.

Known for his bright, modernist pieces, Venice designer and fabricator Ilan Dei gets up close and personal at his eye-catching pop-up on 1650 Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Made out of three converted shipping containers rendered in brilliant colors with an emphasis on indoor-outdoor living, the installation exudes an inviting appeal even on this busy, uber-trendy street. “1650 Abbot Kinney has been an empty lot and a site for pop-ups for many years. I drive or cycle by everyday to and from our design studio,” said Dei, who quickly pounced when the site became available.